Katie Couric Joins ‘The Big Picture’ Obesity Documentary

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Katie Couric is taking a hint from Michelle Obama and Ellen DeGeneres, as she is expanding her resume in educating others about the obesity epidemic, the food industry and government subsidies.

Couric has joined forces with Laurie David, who produced the global warming doc “An Inconvenient Truth” in 2009, and producer Stephanie Soechtig for the new educational doc.

Titled “The Big Picture,” the feature-length film follows 10 children between the ages of 11 and 17, all while documenting their personal struggles with eating, weight and peer pressure. For the past year, all the kids have been recording video diaries for the film to show what obesity is like for those actually dealing with the issue.

Couric jumped on the bandwagon, and has even seen with her own two eyes children not eating healthy as a mentor at New York’s Harlem Village Academy. “They had never had an asparagus or mushroom or different herbs. Some of the kids had never eaten a raw carrot,” she said of her mentees while visiting the Union Square Farmers Market.

Though Couric will not appear in the documentary, she will likely narrate.

Soechtig, the producer, has been a vegetarian since she was 15. She recalls taking homemade liverwurst sandwiches to school and “felt tortured.”

Through “The Big Picture,” Soechtig says this isn’t like your everyday reality show, but we will hear straight from the hearts of children. “You will see the emotional and human toll in an authentic and nonexploitive way. This is coming straight from the kids. There isn’t a reality crew following them around.”

The doc is still being completed, so be sure to keep your eyes open for its release.